The Indian Railways clocked earnings of ₹1,229.85 crore from cancelled waiting list tickets between 2021 and 2024 (till January), a reponse to a query under the Right to Information Act has revealed.
The Railway Ministry response to the RTI application filed by Madhya Pradesh-based activist Vivek Pandey also showed that earnings from this source have increased year on year.
For instance in 2021, a total of 2.53 crore tickets on the waiting list were cancelled and the Railways earned ₹242.68 crore. This number rose to 4.6 crore tickets being cancelled in 2022 and the earnings soaring to ₹439.16 crore. In 2023, 5.26 crore tickets that were waitlisted were cancelled and the Railways cashed in ₹505 crore as a result. In 2024, in the month of January alone, 45.86 lakh tickets were cancelled, leading to earnings of ₹43 crore for the Railways.
